There's No Place For Sex Assaults In Military, Obama Says

President Obama delivering the commencement address Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Larry Downing
/ Reuters /Landov

Originally published on May 24, 2013 12:22 pm

Saying that "those who commit sexual assaults are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that make our military strong," President Obama on Friday urged Naval Academy graduates to help bring an end to a disturbing series of such offenses.

"They've got no place in the greatest military on earth," Obama said during the commencement address he delivered at the academy's Annapolis, Md., campus.

The president took the opportunity to address the problem of sexual assaults in the military during a speech in which he honored the graduates' hard work, praised the U.S. military for being "the most trusted institution in America" and challenged the new officers to "carry forth the values that you've learned at this institution."

"Our nation needs them now more than ever," Obama said of those values. "We need your honor — that inner compass that guides you not when the path is easy and obvious, but when it's hard and uncertain."

Using C-SPAN's video library, we created a clip of the president's comments about sexual assaults and the challenge he presented to the graduates. It's posted here.

The latest news about such misconduct came Tuesday, when word emerged that a male sergeant at West Point has been accused of secretly videotaping at least a dozen female cadets.